• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Bloomberg: Apple to announce updated Macbooks at WWDC

If I'm going to spend $1600 on a computer and I know a better product is coming along for the same price a mere weeks later, I personally would just wait it out for that better product, especially since this is something I'd ideally be owning for a number of years.

The best computer is the one available right when you need it
 

G-Unit

Member
Well if by some miracle they go back to swapable hard drive and ram, then I would consider buying a mac again. So most likely this was my first and last mac(book pro 2013) with upgraded ram and hd
 

giga

Member
Well if by some miracle they go back to swapable hard drive and ram, then I would consider buying a mac again. So most likely this was my first and last mac(book pro 2013) with upgraded ram and hd

This isn't even an Apple thing anymore. It's an industry practice now for thin and lights.
 
Well if by some miracle they go back to swapable hard drive and ram, then I would consider buying a mac again. So most likely this was my first and last mac(book pro 2013) with upgraded ram and hd

I hear you. To get my Mac fix I just configured an HP 8770w workstation laptop as a Sierra based hackintosh.

i7 3720qm
16GB ram
2gb quadro
128 GB SD for os
1080p screen
Display port and 3 usb 3.0 ports.
Built in 2012! Cost $6-8000 for years ago. Got it for $95 total!

I have an xps 15 9550 as my main, so this is being mounted under my desk for a clean workstation look without a visible cpu present cause apple UI and scaling is so much better than windows currently. My point is, you still can't get those kind of specs for anything near reasonable with a Mac. Their aesthetics are always on point though
 

eot

Banned
Not gonna happen. If anything in time ALL MacBooks will have the touch bar. And MagSafe isn't coming back. It's dead. Unless Apple releases a hybrid charging cable that has it. Which they won't.

The only reason the low end touchbar-less MBP is around is to keep something in the low price range area until the technology is matured enough to go all out. Same reason a low end shitty iMac used to exist while waiting for Retina screens of that size to become cheaper.

The touch bar is a useless gimmick, they'll get rid of it eventually. It's an evolutionary dead end.

As for MasSafe, I sure as shit ain't buying a new MacBook without it.
 

jts

...hate me...
I have a MacBook (Pro retina '14) with MagSafe. If they brought back MagSafe I'd actively hunt down a USB-C charging MacBook when I upgrade mine.

If given the choice, I'm done with proprietary charging.
 

Ovek

7Member7
I have a MacBook (Pro retina '14) with MagSafe. If they brought back MagSafe I'd actively hunt down a USB-C charging MacBook when I upgrade mine.

If given the choice, I'm done with proprietary charging.

You say that but the USB-C standard is a shit show and not all USB-C cables and devices including chargers are created equal.

For example to be safe charging a expensive MacBook I would only use the Apple USB-C cable and Apple charger.

I've seen all sort of weird shit with charging MacBook Pros with anything other than the stuff Apple gives you, not the standard MacBook though but that wouldn't suck as much power.


The touch bar is a useless gimmick, they'll get rid of it eventually. It's an evolutionary dead end.

As for MasSafe, I sure as shit ain't buying a new MacBook without it.

I honestly don't know why they just don't stick a magsafe plug on the end of the current USB cable. I mean it's Apple and another cable they can sell you... you know when it eventually breaks, goes brown or shit just sets on fire because "Master of Design" Jony boy doesn't know how to design a good cable strain relief.
 

jts

...hate me...
You say that but the USB-C standard is a shit show and not all USB-C cables and devices including chargers are created equal.

For example to be safe charging a expensive MacBook I would only use the Apple USB-C cable and Apple charger.

I've seen all sort of weird shit with charging MacBook Pros with anything other than the stuff Apple gives you, not the standard MacBook though but that wouldn't suck as much power.
The situation will only get better and on the other hand I would have no qualms using the MBP USB-C charger for other USB-C charging devices (e.g. Nintendo Switch, GoPro, Smartphones, many more coming).

Also, there's other QoL improvements to be considered even if one was stuck with Apple's own charger: charge from any port, from any side; frayed cable? don't need to replace the powerbrick but just the cable itself. That is how I want to live my life.
 

xevis

Banned
I for one am shocked that Apples cheapest laptop is a strong seller. Shocked I tell you.

Edit: They need to release a new desktop keyboard with the touchbar... ffs Apple it's not hard.

Nope. Just no. that touchbar needs to be taken behind a shed and shown some mercy. It's fuck awful. Keyboards aren't supposed to crash.
 
I don't see anything but spec bumps and internal tweaks here, most likely candidate being the Macbook 12. Maybe it'll get the touch-bar.
 
I'll definitely cop an mb air if they treat it right with this update. In the market for a new laptop anyway

It already exists, it's the new baseline Macbook Pro (without touchbar). It's almost exactly the same size as the old air, with the same 15-watt class processor, battery life, Only difference being it's not a wedge shape.
 
It already exists, it's the new baseline Macbook Pro (without touchbar). It's almost exactly the same size as the old air, with the same 15-watt class processor, battery life, Only difference being it's not a wedge shape.
Yep, this and it's not priced quite as affordably.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
My light usage is usually somewhere between 4-8 Safari tabs open, LINE, Tweetbot, Messages, Mail, and sometimes iTunes open. My screen is at 60% brightness right now. I also use Caffeine to prevent display sleep. Here's what Activity Monitor shows right now, with everything I just described:

YeoFi61.png


This is a 15", 2.7GHz, 1TB, Radeon Pro 460 model.


By the time it's near dead, does it show the same 10 hours used? Time remaining was inaccurate, which is why they hid it.
 

X05

Upside, inside out he's livin la vida loca, He'll push and pull you down, livin la vida loca
This isn't even an Apple thing anymore. It's an industry practice now for thin and lights.
RAM? Sorta.
SSD? Nope.

Soldered on drives is a super stupid proposition.
 

inner-G

Banned
I hear you. To get my Mac fix I just configured an HP 8770w workstation laptop as a Sierra based hackintosh.

i7 3720qm
16GB ram
2gb quadro
128 GB SD for os
1080p screen
Display port and 3 usb 3.0 ports.
Built in 2012! Cost $6-8000 for years ago. Got it for $95 total!

I have an xps 15 9550 as my main, so this is being mounted under my desk for a clean workstation look without a visible cpu present cause apple UI and scaling is so much better than windows currently. My point is, you still can't get those kind of specs for anything near reasonable with a Mac. Their aesthetics are always on point though

How does the App store work with my iTunes account on a hackintosh?

Like, can I just log in and get my FCPX, Logic, etc.?
 

LordOfChaos

Member
Yes. I have literally gotten 10-12 hours out of it on multiple occasions.

That's good then. I'd also totally believe it's my ADHD multitabbing :p

Curious though that Grubers single tab, wait 15 seconds script got so much under 10 hours, but YMMV as always.
 
But that's what counts for me
Same. I think, in addition to improving keyboard feedback, Apple needs to get the non-TouchBar MBP down to a base price of like $1099. I'm not mad if higher specs only go to the pricier TouchBar models, but get that barrier to entry lower.
 
How does the App store work with my iTunes account on a hackintosh?

Like, can I just log in and get my FCPX, Logic, etc.?

Assuming everything is set up properly—yes.

Now, iMessage is another story, sometimes apple won't accept your Mac's fake id, but you can usually get it to work.

Fun fact, if you search for my Hackintosh's (made up!) serial number, it comes up as a real computer in Apple's database. It's listed as having been purchased on the day I installed Hackintosh.
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
If Apple's gonna keep the touch bar then they need to add the taptic engine in order for there to be feedback

Yep, was only saying this today at work. It's weird to press the touchbar and have no feedback.
Yeah that seems like a strange omission.

Is it because they'd have to put a second one in under the bar because I'd think the one under the trackpad wouldn't feel right if you're pushing buttons so far away from it.

But definitely it needs haptic feedback.

Personally I look forward to it making its way into all MacBooks. I really want to play around with BTT's Touch Bar support.
 
If Apple's gonna keep the touch bar then they need to add the taptic engine in order for there to be feedback
Definitely agreed.

3D Touch in general would be nice for it (I'd prefer an overall concept of deep press for a function/button replacement, basic tap/swipe just for looking at information or moving sliders)
 

LordOfChaos

Member
If Apple's gonna keep the touch bar then they need to add the taptic engine in order for there to be feedback

Agreed, both with the touchbar and with iPads it does feel strange going back and losing taptic and force press, even though when they came out they seemed like small changes. When you go back it's a literal dimension of interactivity removed.

Force press might be odd on it since you don't want a bunch of menu layers on the touchbar, but the taptic engines feedback would certainly be appreciated.
 
Agreed, both with the touchbar and with iPads it does feel strange going back and losing taptic and force press, even though when they came out they seemed like small changes. When you go back it's a literal dimension of interactivity removed.

Force press might be odd on it since you don't want a bunch of menu layers on the touchbar, but the taptic engines feedback would certainly be appreciated.
Yeah I'm definitely hoping 3D Touch comes to the next iPad Pro revision mainly for the Taptic Engine feedback factor.
 

giga

Member
Apple working on dedicated AI chip: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...to-plan-dedicated-chip-to-power-ai-on-devices

Apple is working on a processor devoted specifically to AI-related tasks, according to a person familiar with the matter. The chip, known internally as the Apple Neural Engine, would improve the way the company’s devices handle tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence -- such as facial recognition and speech recognition, said the person, who requested anonymity discussing a product that hasn’t been made public. Apple declined to comment.

Engineers at Apple are racing to catch their peers at Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. in the booming field of artificial intelligence. While Siri gave Apple an early advantage in voice-recognition, competitors have since been more aggressive in deploying AI across their product lines, including Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Home digital assistants. An AI-enabled processor would help Cupertino, California-based Apple integrate more advanced capabilities into devices, particularly cars that drive themselves and gadgets that run augmented reality, the technology that superimposes graphics and other information onto a person’s view of the world.

…

Apple devices currently handle complex artificial intelligence processes with two different chips: the main processor and the graphics chip. The new chip would let Apple offload those tasks onto a dedicated module designed specifically for demanding artificial intelligence processing, allowing Apple to improve battery performance.

Apple may choose to discuss some of its latest advancements in AI at its annual developer’s conference in June. At the same conference, Apple plans to introduce iOS 11, its new operating system for iPhones and iPads, with an updated user-interface, people with knowledge of the matter said last month. The company is also said to discuss updated laptops with faster chips from Intel Corp.
 

LordOfChaos

Member

I wonder if this is an extension of them bringing GPU development in house. I read someone in the know saying that Apple was looking at it as a very wide SIMDy CPU, on which graphics was a single application, rather than necessarily the focus. Basically a very powerful GPGPU, especially with their robust FP16 support and "free" data type conversion in hardware.

Compute heavy GPUs are certainly some chips that are good at neural nets.

The article mentions this chip would offload the GPU, but it's curious if the other persons commentary on the GPU being looked at as a huge computing block was accurate.
 

Sounds like something that would allow for offline Siri at the very least.

In terms of tasks the phone already does that could be optimized for in order to cut power consumption (as the M5 etc. chips have done), the best thing for Apple to do at this point is probably to design and manufacture their own modem hardware (which includes LTE/WiFi/GPS/BT antennas). The W1 chip hints that Apple's at least got some folks working on that type of problem. The modem's probably the physically largest and most important part of the iPhone other than the display or the battery itself that isn't end-to-end Apple design/integration/manufacturing.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
Sounds like something that would allow for offline Siri at the very least.

In terms of tasks the phone already does that could be optimized for in order to cut power consumption (as the M5 etc. chips have done), the best thing for Apple to do at this point is probably to design and manufacture their own modem hardware (which includes LTE/WiFi/GPS/BT antennas). The W1 chip hints that Apple's at least got some folks working on that type of problem. The modem's probably the physically largest and most important part of the iPhone other than the display or the battery itself that isn't end-to-end Apple design/integration/manufacturing.

In a year and a half they'll also move to make their own power control chip, ousting Dialog for it -

http://appleinsider.com/articles/17...orking-on-custom-power-chips-for-2019-iphones

The iPhone is so profitable that it's becoming quite the virtuous circle where they can just out-R&D anyone, the large CPU cores first, next a GPU, power control, Apple has always, always talked about the Whole Banana approach, but this may be their tightest vertical integration ever. With Macs even when they worked on CPUs with Motorola, it was still a lot of other companies engineering most everything, 2017 onwards Apple is closer to their original vision with vertical integration than ever I think. The iPhone in a few years will have few parts others engineered.

Question for me really is if and when they'll give the Mac this kind of integration, which is still reliant on parts mostly designed everywhere else (Intel, AMD, RAM makers...T1 and custom SSD controller are a start)
 
How does the App store work with my iTunes account on a hackintosh?

Like, can I just log in and get my FCPX, Logic, etc.?

Works perfect.

I have full GPU acceleration access to apple store. I'm running logic pro as well (my main DAW is presonus tho) with no problems.

I turned my old Nexus 6p into a usb Wifi "adapter" until my replacement wifi card arrives because the 8770 one isn't supported. FaceTime/iMessage can be finicky and you may have to play around with some settings to get them working properly, but those are the only issues I've had at all.
 
i cant let go of my 2015 pro cause of its ports

HDMI, SD card, multiple USB in a slim unibody. i will cry the day it dies and i have to get the dongle magnet new pros ; ;
 

Skel1ingt0n

I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
The best time to buy a new computer is tomorrow.

... that said, at some point you just have to pull the trigger, knowing something better is always around the corner.
 
Top Bottom